Stewart is the current chair of the Prince William Board of Supervisors, but has struggled to win office outside of his county. He notably lost the Republican primary for the office of Governor to Ed Gillespie in 2017 by a slim margin, which Gillespie supporters ascribed to Stewart’s caustic, aggressive tone. After his narrow victory in the Tuesday primary over Nick Freitas, Stewart seems to have doubled-down on the often violent rhetoric he employs on the campaign trail.

On a CNN appearance last night with Chris Cuomo, the candidate struggled to answer questions about his support for and from anti-semites and white supremacists. In 2017, he received an endorsement from Paul Nehlen, an anti-semite who Stewart described as “one of my personal heroes.” Although he tried to deflect when Cuomo asked him about Nehlen and other white supremacist supporters, Stewart eventually said, “I take support from whoever wants to give it to me. That doesn’t mean I support their views.”

After his failed GOP primary run for Governor last year, Stewart was singled out for praise by Steve Bannon, a one-time President Donald Trump advisor who associates with white supremacists under the title the “alt-right.” Bannon described Stewart as the “titular head of the Trump movement” in an interview with the Washington Post, where he maintained Stewart would have prevailed over Northam, and predicted he’d bring national attention to the race for Kaine’s Senate seat.

Northam had a different take on his victory that invoked both Michelle Obama’s “We go high” mantra and “The Virginia Way,” the idea that elections in the Commonwealth are won by candidates who maintain a positive image and platform. While Bannon’s prediction about national attention has come true, ultimately, it will be up to Virginia voters to decide between two candidates who for many exemplify opposite ends of the spectrum: Tim Kaine for Democrats and “The Virginia Way,” and Corey Stewart as a bellicose, Trumpian member of the GOP.

In what can only be described as one of the most disturbing political interviews ever, The Huffington Post recently spoke with a congressional candidate for Virginia’s 10th District who confessed to being a pedophile. When asked about being a pedophile and writing about pedophilia, he readily admitted, “It’s a mix of both. When people go over the top there’s a grain of truth to what they say.”

Running as an independent, Larson’s campaign platform is apparently that of a “quasi-neoreactionary libertarian”. Among the litany of bat-shit issues he is running on, is “benevolent white supremacy”, patriarchy, “putting an end to U.S. involvement in foreign wars arising from our country’s alliance with Israel”, (a blatant anti-semitic dog-whistle), and freedom from age restrictions – an endorsement of sexual relations with minors.

Nathan Larson

According to the Huffington Post, Larson has participated in multiple websites and messaging boards for pedophiles and talked extensively about child rape and other forms of gratuitous sexual assault. One such post made under the pseudonym “Lysander”, which identifies him as the administrator, not only directly referenced relations with his daughter, but also said, “Once sex with kids is legalized, I imagine the competition to get in their pants will be fierce.”

Image by Huff Post

In the interview, Larson thankfully acknowledged that he does not have custody of his daughter, relinquishing custody rights in 2015, right before his ex-wife committed suicide. He has also made posts on the now defunct website called Incelocalypse, titled, “Here’s how to psyche yourself up to feel entitled to rape”. The post, reflective of the misogyny and potential violence surrounding incel culture and sub-culture, provides advice for men who believe they should remain celibate due to how they perceive their own physical appearance. “Why not establish a claim to rape any and all girls,” the post finished by saying, “If it weren’t a disproportionate reward for taking risk…then no one would bother to take risks, and humanity would stagnate.”

Image by Huff Post

The potential for violence surrounding incel culture and sub-culture came about recently after Alex Minassian drove a van into a crowd of people in Toronto killing 10 and wounding 15. On his Facebook page before the incident, he left a message on his feed that said, “The incel rebellion has begun!”.

Larson’s campaign platform “manifesto” is also littered with anti-Semitic language including praise for Adolph Hitler and saying things like, “Jews will cite the Holocaust as an example of the dangers of white supremacist movements. But Jewish supremacists have also brought about the deaths of Gentiles for millennia…it is in the best interests of all races that whites defeat the Jews in the fight for supremacy in America.” This is followed by a call for “benevolent white supremacy” saying, “Like every other human being, I am indeed racist…What makes whites (or at least, the more highly-evolved whites) different from other races is our cultural creativeness.”

Anti-Semitic Imagery Accompanying Larson’s Manifesto

Larson’s pedophilia is woven together with an ideology that fuses a hatred of feminism with a need for upholding the patriarchy by doing away with age restrictions which govern things like the age in which someone can consent to marry. He states that women who marry “the man to whom she gives her virginity is more likely to have a successful marriage than a woman who has had other sexual relationships prior to marriage.” He goes on to state that the average marriageable age should be 17.5 years old. More reprehensibly, he claims pedophilia and “adult-child” sex is only prohibited because of the “Overton window” – a political theory which states that the public will only entertain a certain kind of discourse publically – based on a scale of extremes – and how the issues fit within this scale.

This is not the first time Larson has run for office, in 2008, he ran for the House of Delegates. According to Ballotpedia, his campaign website claimed his platform was running on the single issue of legalizing “Dignitas-style assisted suicide clinics in Virginia.”

In 2008, Larson was also arrested for sending a letter to the Secret Service saying he was going to kill then President Obama, landing him in prison for 14 months. In 2016, then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe restored civil rights to thousands of felons throughout the Commonwealth, including Larson, allowing him to run for Congress.

What can one say about politics in 2017? It was an apex year not only for Virginia, but also for the entire US. This is not just an observation, however, but an indictment on just how tempestuous politics has become. Not only for us as individuals, but for us as groups of individuals trying to navigate the turbulence of a political system that is keeping people on perpetual edge; and rightfully so, we are in completely uncharted territory.

It is also safe to say that politics and the many accouterments which accompany it have become the deciding factor in how we interact within our own group and those groups we come into contact with. In this publication, we refer to this as “political lifestyle”, another gift from the lexicon in 2017. Yet this phenomenon of isolating ourselves within our own group based on political belief and ideology has come to resemble the kinds of sectarian and tribalism of the more ancient geographies scattered across our planet. This will not likely change anytime soon thanks to the presidency of Donald Trump and how he has removed the safeguards for civility within our public discourse.

Nonetheless, since we all live this political lifestyle, it is important that we close out 2017 with a best of list for politics and commentary (which for the most part has been a commentary on politics). What you will find below are articles from our main political writers and photographers on which stories impacted them the most over 2017. This list will also give our readers an inside glimpse into the personalities of each and what is important to them as they assess the world and make certain reporting decisions.

Landon Shroder: Editorial Director

For me, 2017 represented the absolute pinnacle of politics both in Virginia and throughout the US. Pinnacle you say! How dare you, a “pinnacle” represents the highest form of something. Yes, and the US has reached the pinnacle of what its politics has always been, but never fully acknowledged: cruel, base, racist, injurious, adverse, hostile, sexist, and entirely self-interested. The only difference between now and then is that we no longer have to pretend that our politics are anything but the obvious. This is true for Virginia as it is for the entire US.

Regardless, as Editorial Director for RVA Mag, it is my responsibility to set the tone and pace for what gets covered within our pages. While this includes tapping into the wider conversation on things like politics, it also includes elevating voices that are under-reported and also helping to articulate the political profile in ways that readers might not have considered. In this day and age, it is important that we challenge our perceptions and understand where we can come together to find concord.

If we want to understand why our politics are the way they are, what better place to start than by trying to understand how humans have evolved to this interminable point? Dr. Amy Rector from VCU’s anthropology department took RVA Mag field reporter, Christopher McDaniel on a journey through the epochs to understand how things like group dynamics and culture inform our political and social identities in this complex day and age.

Chelsea Higgs Wise’s piece, Things All White People Need To Hear, perfectly encapsulates the conversation people need to have over race and how race connects to perception in our current political age. Black women play such a critical role in safeguarding progressive politics, yet are ceremoniously under-represented in every stage of the conversation – which is why Higgs’ commentary was such a high speed / low drag tour-de-force. And in an age where the consequences of not understanding how race informs our day to day interactions and personal politics, this conversation has become more critical than ever.

Our reporting teams covered the elections and primaries in full power-mode and our reporters came to know the candidates well. The sweep this past November, which ushered in a new wave of progressives was a pivotal moment in the Commonwealth’s history. While this was partly a referendum on President Trump, it was also a referendum on the fear-mongering and race-baiting of Republican Ed Gillespie, who failed to articulate any real social or economic agenda for Virginians. As a result, voters made their voices heard with record turnout. Being on the frontlines of the election was a thrilling experience and recovering a modicum of what was lost when Trump won last November was very important to me as Editorial Director. As someone who is immersed in the day-to-day grind of Commonwealth politics, I have no illusions about the short-comings of Governor-Elect Ralph Northam. Nonetheless, the stewardship of Virginia’s social and economic future is far more certain with him at the helm, and that should make us all breathe a little bit easier.

The highlight of my year writing for RVA Magazine was Richmond Won Today: A Look At The Failed Neo-Confederate Rally. I joined the team shortly after the tragedy in Charlottesville, which I only saw through the eyes of my wife, a clergy protester, and my magazine colleagues. The reporting in other outlets didn’t match their experiences, and I felt a responsibility to cover the Neo-Confederate rally here and get the story right. Working with a team to provide information on a developing story that could end in tragedy was a sobering and powerful experience. I’m proud of the team that worked the rally with me, including Nidhi Sharma, Landon Shroder, and Allison McEwen, and am grateful that we were on the ground to document a day that ended in a sort of victory: No one was injured, thoughtful debates were held, and neighbors and attendees were spared violence or trauma.

That same team joined me for a very different rally the next month when we covered candidate Ralph Northam’s rally in Richmond, headlined by President Barack Obama. It’s not every day that you get to see a former president, and the excitement of the thousands of attendees was powerful in a year that’s been so politically fraught.

After the many mass shootings that dominated news coverage this year, I was able to write about it with a local context, working with expert sources, a rewarding experience; a British Special Forces operative from the SAS who did security work in Iraq, an FBI counter-terrorism expert, and our own police chief, Alfred Durham, helped to make sense of these tragedies and outline the risks. The quality of these sources made “Could Las Vegas Happen Here” one of my top stories.

Lastly, if you read nothing else by me this year, I’d love to share my funniest story, about a semi-satirical protest held at the Lee Monument. “Crowd Assembles to Yell at Lee Statue While Drinking Out of Brown Bags” documents the protest staged by friendly activists who gathered to mock Neo-Confederate ideologies while sipping fair trade cold brew coffee hidden in brown paper bags. Nothing could be more uniquely Richmond or more appropriate to undermine those who would seek to undermine our city from the outside.

This was a weird day to say the least, but sometimes the best days are. One side of the National Mall held a Trump rally, while the other hosted a Juggalo gathering, in which they were protesting the FBI’s labeling of the Insane Clown Posse’s fan base as a “gang.” Returning to my home of the previous four years and watching such a contrast of characters and messages congregate on the mall really embodied the nature of Washington, plus it was a lot of fun.

Putting words to the events of the multiple white nationalist rallies and movements from this past summer, which largely developed in the city of Charlottesville, has been my greatest challenge from my time at RVA Mag. Retaining a balance between two incredibly different voices and viewpoints while upholding the acknowledgment of hate is something every publication struggled with this summer, but thanks to an adept team of writers, editors, and photographers, I believe RVA Mag excelled in the coverage of these events. I’m proud to have been a part of it.

Part of the responsibility of being a reporter is finding those who have been unable to tell their own story and telling it for them, something I believe we try hard to accomplish at RVA Mag. Coverage of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline is part of that effort, as many of the landowners, business owners, and environmentalists have not been able to make their voices heard in the larger community of Virginia. My love for this story, and all the articles focusing on the pipeline, is mainly because of the kind, interesting people we met along the pipeline path. It’s an issue Virginians should be more aware of, as it can ultimately affect everyone in the state.

David Streever’s interview with Henry Haggard, a 12-year-old ACLU volunteer, and justice vigilante, brought hope to my heart. We are so quick these days to dwell on the negative, to feel hopeless in bringing about change, content to discuss our feelings of despair ad nauseam over beers with friends or family at the dinner table. Admittedly, I am 100 percent guilty of that myself. Haggard, however, took a different approach. After being bullied online over his political views he decided to fight back by establishing Constitution Day, a forum for people of all ages to discuss the Constitution and the political issues we face today. His will and optimism are admirable, and I think I learned a little something that day about the strength of action and optimism.

Art speaks to everyone differently, for some, it’s solely about the aesthetic, for others it is a message received that cannot be expressed through words. Sometimes it’s easy to get sucked into our own small political bubble, forgetting that this world is so much larger than what we live day to day. Asiya Al-Sharabi sent me a powerful reminder of this through her art – a love letter of sorrow to her native Yemen, which is experiencing the worst kind of civil conflict. Landon Shroder’s article Slow Death Inside, Slow Death Outside: The Art of Asiya Al-Sharabi captured the essence of Asiya’s struggle and the message she wanted to share through her artwork. The country she loves is in a humanitarian crisis and the poverty, hunger, violence, discrimination of women and the freedoms that we take for granted plague this Middle Eastern country with no end in sight. It’s a voice that speaks volumes and allows us in Richmond and Virginia to connect to a wider world.

Written by Matthew Sporn, this article really makes some interesting points in the gun control debate. RVA Mag posted this article less than two weeks after the Las Vegas attack, which brought gun control to the forefront of the gubernatorial campaign in Virginia. Sporn really took a deeper viewpoint in his proposed approach to curbing gun violence – essentially saying that regulating gun laws will have no real effect. Instead, he focused on other issues like poverty. This is different than the two polarizing positions of Democrats vs. Republicans. This quote from the article really stuck with me – “Perhaps it’s counterintuitive to say this, but for Virginia (and the country) gun control responses to mass casualty attacks are not true solutions. Gun regulation won’t solve a problem dependent on social and economic factors. Gun control only treats the symptoms, not the cause.”

I wouldn’t say that this was a very enjoyable article for me to write, but this conversation has dominated the political sphere nationally and in Virginia. However, I felt it was necessary to write. I needed to put in words the feelings I was having at the time. I was just baffled at the swift response in the private sector of accused men vs. the slow and virtual lack of a response by lawmakers towards their accused.

Governor-Elect Ralph Northam held his first press conference this morning in the Patrick Henry Building on Broad Street, after a resounding victory that saw him beat Republican challenger Ed Gillespie by almost nine points. In a room packed with journalists, state-employees, and well-wishers, Northam struck a conciliatory tone, claiming that he will govern for all Virginians in the “Virginian Way.”

He fielded a wide range of questions about how to reconcile voters from both parties, what his cabinet would look like, and how he would work with President Trump. “There are things that President Trump has talked about wanting to do for this country that would be beneficial to the Commonwealth of Virginia,” said Northam when prodded by a reporter. “For example, building up our military… I believe in a strong military and as you know, we build some of the greatest warships and submarines right here in Virginia, in Newport News.” Northam also made it clear that if there are “detrimental policies coming out of Washington” he would stand up to them, such as the travel ban, the Paris Accords, and healthcare. “Any plan that puts 30 million Americans at risk of losing their coverage is a non-starter with me.”

Photo by David Streever

When asked by a reporter from the Virginia Pilot about a comment made by former Gov. Bob McDonnell that referred to him being “co-opted by the leftist agenda,” he responded, “I don’t think I have been taken over by a national agenda… this is about Virginia, and moving Virginia forward.”

Northam closed by circling back to a question on his signature phrase about governing the “Virginian Way.” “We can agree to disagree,” he said, but “at the end of the day we do what is in the best interest of Virginia.” To further make his point he pointed to legislation he passed in the Senate about banning smoking in restaurants and resisting tobacco lobbyists in the interests of all Virginians – claiming that this is the “Virginian Way.”

“We live in the greatest state in this country, and we have so much potential. It is time to put some of the ideology and divisiveness aside and bring people to the table, and again move Virginia in a positive direction.”

Most voters don’t realize just how important the post of Attorney General really is to the Commonwealth. In addition to providing the legal basis for the governor’s policy agenda, the office of Attorney General defends and upholds the constitutionality of state law and acts as the de-facto law firm of the Commonwealth. This is a daunting task in an age when federal policy proscriptions are colliding with state agendas in very real and very contentious ways. Look no further than challenges to refugee re-settlement, Title IX protections against campus sexual assault, immigration, challenges to Obamacare, LGBTQ and environmental protections, along with a host of other legalese that govern our daily lives.

At the center of this turbulent vortex is Mark Herring, the incumbent Democratic candidate for Attorney General. Herring, a former State Senator from the 33rd District in Fairfax and Loudoun counties, made a name for himself early in his tenure by refusing to defend the Virginia Marriage Amendment – an amendment which defined marriage as ‘solely between one man and one woman’, which was a dark blemish on Virginia’s fight for equality. Herring’s refusal effectively paved the way for marriage equality in the Commonwealth.

RVA Mag’s Political Director, Landon Shroder and Staff Writer, Madelyne Ashworth, caught up with Herring at Lamplighter near Virginia Commonwealth University for a coffee and to chat about the upcoming election, gender-based violence, the LGBTQ community, Virginia’s opioid crisis, the events in Charlottesville, and just about everything else that is on the mind of young voter’s this campaign season.

Shroder: Nice to see you again, how is the campaign going?

Herring: So far, so good. People are beginning to realize there is an election coming up and it is really exciting and I feel good about how things are, but you have to sprint towards the finish.

Shroder: You’ve been in electoral politics for some time now, but clearly we are in a new political age and we’re all experiencing something new in politics. Because of this, has this campaign differed from other campaigns you’ve ran before?

Herring: This is definitely one of the most challenging political landscapes I have encountered in my public life. It is drawing upon all the skills I have to navigate through it, but it is also a really important time for folks to become more deeply engaged. There are a lot of questions that our country is asking right now about who we are as a nation, who we are as a Commonwealth, and it’s a time that people should not be on the sidelines.

Shroder: Do you feel that is reflective in your day to day interactions while on the trail? Or is this just something everyone already knows, like a tangible feeling?

Herring: I definitely sense an awareness that we are in a different political time. [Previously] elected officials at least seemed like they were operating within a certain lane of reasonableness. Now a lot of boundaries have been crossed and a lot of people are scratching their head about what direction is our country really going in right now; how are people reacting to the chaos coming out of the White House? It’s unclear how it is all going to shake-out.

I have a lot of confidence in Virginians being people who are caring about others, about the importance of community and being committed to equality and inclusiveness. I truly believe that’s who we are as a state and is something I am deeply committed too.

Herring Speaking at the Obama Rally Last Thursday. Photo by Landon Shroder

Title IX Protections:

Ashworth: This is something that’s important to me as a recently graduated college student, and here we are sitting next to VCU’s campus. Now that the Title IX protections have been withdrawn, how can we protect students from sexual assault, especially since 23 percent of young women are experiencing that every day?

Herring: I am deeply concerned about the direction Secretary DeVos is taking us with campus sexual violence. I chaired the Governor’s task force to combat sexual violence three years ago. We made enormous progress in getting much more comprehensive prevention programs in place at Virginia’s colleges and universities, working to change the culture, letting students know that as a state, we are committed to campus safety. I want to make sure every student knows as long as I’m Attorney General, they should feel comfortable stepping forward to report an incident of sexual assault when it happens, and they will not be treated with suspicion or judgment. They will be treated with the dignity and respect and compassion they deserve.

I was really disappointed in the Secretary’s remarks in the early part of the school year. That’s a time when it’s back to campus, a time that students should hear from their education secretary that she and all of us are committed to safe environments in all of our colleges and universities. Particularly at the beginning of the year, to hear something else was a concern. As Attorney General, I would like Virginia students to know in particular that maybe the Secretary wants to go in a different direction, but we in Virginia are on the right path. We’re going to continue to make sure that there is a survivor center and trauma-informed response at our state colleges and universities.

Ashworth: Another issue I think is important to women my age, particularly women of color, who don’t necessarily feel represented by the people who are creating policy around Title IX, namely older, white, male politicians. How do you reconcile that difference?

Herring: It’s important that young people, including women, make their voices heard, make the concerns know. I, myself, am a parent. I’ve got two children, one still in college, our son is a senior, and our daughter is 25. By making sure that their voices are heard in policy-making forums, in elections, in other types of conversations that can impact laws and regulations so they can have an impact. They should also begin thinking about taking a leadership role. It’s not just about making your voice heard, but stepping up and becoming a leader in your community, in your school, in your state. We need new generations of young people to step forward and become the leaders of today and tomorrow.

Opioid Crisis:

Shroder: What is the responsibility in Virginia to treat the opioid crisis as a public health issue vs. a law enforcement issue? Where do those two things meet?

Herring: There is a law enforcement component and I have worked hard to step up prosecutions against dealers and traffickers who bring heroin and fentanyl into Virginia – those who profit off of addiction. But, I have known from the very beginning that this is not a problem we were going to solve with arrests. Many of our drug policies of the past have not worked well and we need to take a fresh look at this. One of the things that taught me a lot early on when I started working on this back in 2014, was meeting with family members who had lost loved ones to heroin or opioid overdoses. Initially, the conversation goes towards the person they loved and the wonderful qualities they had. I could see that these drugs were not going after one particular demographic, it was crossing every racial and demographic divide. It wasn’t an urban, suburban, or rural problem, it was happening everywhere, and it was something that could happen to anyone.

We are also part of a 41 state Attorneys General investigation into pharmaceutical manufacturers. To see if they have engaged in any unlawful practices, regarding their marketing and distribution. These drugs are incredibly powerful, and devastating the lives of so many families. It is estimated over 60,000 Americans died last year alone, over 1,100 of them in Virginia. It’s a national tragedy and a problem that is decades in the making, and has it has it’s roots in the medicine cabinet much more so than in the streets.

Herring Stumping for Ralph Northam. Photo by Branden Wilson

Marijuana:

Shroder: Do you support the decriminalization of marijuana?

Herring: It is time we look at the experience of other states. There are several other states, that have either decriminalized or legalized and we should look at what their experience has been. There have been some unintended consequences as a result, but it is time to take a look at it and see what might work for Virginia. That’s something that might not have been on the table a long time ago, but it is time to have the conversation about what the impact has been in other states and to see if that {is} something we want to do in Virginia.

This is an area where Republicans and Democrats can sit down at the table and talk about it, and try to come up with practical solutions that make sense.

Herring: When I came into office, there were over 2,000 untested rape kits. When I found out, that was unacceptable to me. I’m now working to completely eliminate the backlog and I’m not going to stop until every kit is tested, survivors know the results, and every case gets a fresh look. It has made such a {difference} for survivors. First of all, that means perpetrators could still be out there. It means survivors are not getting justice. It also means a lot to survivors of sexual assault to know that their Commonwealth understands the severity of the crime, as well as the trauma that goes with it.

I’ve had survivors talk to me and share with me what it has meant to them. I talked with a woman, I won’t use her name for her privacy, but she heard I was visiting near where she lived and she reached out to our office to arrange a meeting for five minutes. We didn’t know what it was about, but we said ‘okay.’ It turned out she had been raped. Her perpetrator was apprehended, and she followed the case through trial and he’s in prison. But when she heard we were eliminating the backlog, it made her feel better to know that her Commonwealth understands survivors. We will stand with them to get justice and help them on a path of healing and recovering.

Ashworth: So I’m guessing the backlog is a result of a lack of funding or money?

Herring: It could be for a number of reasons. They weren’t part of an active investigation. The good news is, many of the departments kept the kits in their evidence rooms long after state law would have allowed them to be destroyed.

Ashworth: Could you explain your lethality assessment protocol? Does it apply to citizens, or is it just for law enforcement?

Herring: Lethality assessment protocol is a way to help reduce domestic violence and homicides. Local police working with community advocates can come together and develop a set of questions that can be asked of a victim of domestic violence when law enforcement first arrives on the scene to assess whether that person might be at risk for further victimization and danger. If so, connect them right there, on the scene, with services in the community to get them to a place of safety where they can begin to rebuild their lives rather than leave them in that environment in which, once the police leave, they could be in danger again.

Reproductive Health:

Ashworth: As of now, we have a Republican-dominated General Assembly. Where does that leave Planned Parenthood?

Herring: I will continue to do everything I can to block efforts by the Republicans and the General Assembly to take the rights away from women to access the full range of reproductive health services that they need and deserve. It’s one reason why it’s really important to elect me and Ralph Northam as governor, so when those laws get passed, there’s somebody there with a veto pen who can veto them, and there’s somebody like me who will go into court to protect the rights of women to access their health care.

Shroder: It’s amazing we even still have to have this conversation in 2017.

Herring: Oh, I know.

Shroder: We could be talking about so many other things, couldn’t we?

Herring: We could. But we still have to fight these fights. I don’t know how much you want to get into my opponent’s record, but he opposes abortion in all cases including rape and incest. He fought twice in the Supreme Court to limit access to birth control and would allow employers to make that decision for employees. It’s a stark contrast between him and me, and I will stand up for women’s rights.

Ashworth: Going off that point, providing birth control for employees and birth control for students using their public university’s health care systems, how worried do those women need to be about seeking birth control after the reversal of the contraception mandate from the President?

Herring: I think it is a real concern. The numbers of women who could be impacted negatively by this are enormous. We are looking at what legal options might be out there to stop the President from being able to implement that. Right now, rolling that back would put the decision in the hands of the employer. I don’t think someone should have to go to their employer to ask permission to have birth control. Having the contraception mandate has been very beneficial for public health. It has helped to lower unintended pregnancies. Rolling it back will have a significant impact on public health and the ability of women to access birth control. It could increase co-pays and out-of-pocket costs, and make it much more difficult to access important health services.

Shroder: Well I’m about to hit you with another ‘I can’t believe I am asking this in 2017 question’. Obviously, we can’t legislate out people’s perceptions and bigotries and the fears which drive these things. But are there any practical protections that the Commonwealth can offer against the creep of white nationalism and white supremacy. I can assure you, young people are deeply scared of these groups marauding through their towns.

Herring: Virginia is a state that is committed to equality and inclusiveness. It is essential for all of us, especially those in leadership positions, community, state, and nationally to speak out against this kind of hatred and bigotry. Whether it is the neo-Nazis, white nationalists, white supremacists, by whatever name they go by – to make sure that kind of hatred and bigotry never finds a home anywhere in our Commonwealth.

The first thing we have to do is make sure we all speak out against that to make it clear that is not who we are as a state. As well as, speak out when other public officials look the other way and give it a wink and a nod, aid, and comfort because right now, it seems like these groups feel they have a fellow traveler and supporter in the White House – the highest office in the land. That is helping to embolden them, and it is harmful and detrimental.

Shroder: One of the things which was shocking in Charlottesville, was the sheer amount of military kit these guys could purchase. These guys were wearing paramilitary kit, so what responsibility does the Commonwealth have to say ‘you can’t show up in public gatherings in body armor with long guns’?

Herring: The governor has established a commission to review the after-action to see whether there are conditions we can attach to permits to help improve public safety. I think in addition to that we need to take a look at our private militia laws to make sure that they are as strong and as broad as they need to be. To make certain that when there are paramilitary groups out there, they are under the control of the civil authority and not operating autonomously on their own. That may require some legislative change and I am looking at that very carefully right now. I may be bringing something forward next year.

Shroder: Do you think the vehicular attack was an act of terrorism?

Herring: Yes. It was an act of terrorism. The individual was motivated by this kind of political hatred and he weaponized his car. Whether he used a gun or a bomb or a car, it was nonetheless lethal and fatal to a woman who had the courage to stand up and express her opposition to this kind of hatred and bigotry.

Shroder: Can Fields [the white supremacist who conducted the act] be charged with terrorism in the Commonwealth or does that have to be a federal charge?

Herring: The local Charlottesville police investigated the case and the local prosecutor is the one responsible for bringing the charges. But there is no question in my mind and I think to most people’s understanding that this was an act of terrorism.

LGBTQ Equality:

Shroder: Our editor at GayRVA couldn’t be here, but she wanted us to ask you this: “The Department of Justice (DOJ) has recently argued in favor of businesses being allowed to discriminate against customers and employees on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, which brings us to the fact that neither sexual or gender identity are protected in Virginia at a state level.”

Herring: Where do I begin?! First, we have joined a group of states’ attorney generals to take a different view of the case where the DOJ is arguing that position. I have been very proud to fight for and advocate for the rights of the LGBTQ community in Virginia. Whether it was 11 days after taking office, and announcing that we were going to bring Virginia into the fight for marriage equality. Or issuing a legal opinion to school boards that they had the legal authority to include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies. Or issuing legal opinions to members of the legislature that discrimination in employment and housing on the basis of sexual orientation might be discrimination depending on how federal law evolves. There are many decisions in federal courts that would make it discrimination.

These are issues that are being fought out in courts across the country, which is one reason why Virginian’s have an Attorney General who will stand up and fight for their rights. My opponent has a very different view. He said marriage equality was quote, ‘totally made up’, and he would use the powers of the office to roll it back.

Shroder: It seems like we’ve made so much progress towards marriage equality, so is that just pandering to the base because the base has continued voice to be vocal on this issue; or is this just a move towards the usual conservatism?

Herring: I take him at his word that this is what he believes. It is a reminder that progress is not always linear, nor is it inevitable. It is something that all of us need to work hard to move forward. We have made a lot of progress in Virginia and as long as I am Attorney General we are not going to give up the hard-fought gains and we are going to continue to move forward.

Shroder: This has been a great interview, lots of ground covered. Any parting words to our readers?

Herring: What I care about is engaging them [young people] on issues important to them. A lot of people might not know exactly what the Attorney General does, but when I talk about some of the work we’ve been doing over the last four years: breaking Virginia into the fight for marriage equality, successfully defending our Chesapeake Bay clean up plan, helping dreamers find an affordable college education, successfully defending the Affordable Care Act from another cynical legal challenge and taking it all the way to the Supreme Court and winning, standing up to President Trump’s Muslim Ban and winning, fighting the heroin and opioid epidemic and bringing in a lot of new ideas, addressing campus sexual violence across the state, and taking a survivor-centered and trauma-informed approach.

When young people hear the work we’ve been doing over the past four years, they do get excited and say ‘an Attorney General can do these things?’. That is what I’ve been wanting to do, to find ways to break through and talk to young people where they are – like with your publication – and help get the word out about what an Attorney General can do for them – not to flatter you!

In a tweet posted at 10:00pm, President Donald Trump chided Democratic nominee Ralph Northam for supporting the Central American gang MS-13. The tweet simply said, “Ralph Northam, who is running for Governor of Virginia, is fighting for MS-13 killer gangs & sanctuary cities. Vote Ed Gillespie!”

This tweet comes on the heels of a recent attack ad by Republican nominee Ed Gillespie, who claimed that Northam, “voted in favor of sanctuary cities that let dangerous illegal immigrants back on the street, increasing the threat of MS 13.”

MS-13, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, is a criminal gang that has a presence in the Northern Virginia and Washington DC area. Trump’s remarks and Gillespie’s attack ad are entirely misleading, however, since the majority of MS-13 violence has been committed by American citizens who are members of the gang. Additionally, their violent activities only make up around one percent of total gang activity in the US.

This is the first time that Trump has seriously weighed in on the Virginia gubernatorial election. The governor’s election, which is one of only two in an off-year election season, is widely considered to be a referendum on Trump’s presidency to date. Gillespie was originally elusive on courting support from the president, but after a near loss to populist primary challenger Corey Stewart – a former Trump surrogate – Gillespie slowly started to switch strategies in the direction of the president. Regardless, polling on the governor’s race varies, with some having Northam up by about 13 percent, while others have the contest closer to 5 percent.